I did a twelve hour shift at the restaurant (I don't think I sat down once). I get home, and do I turn on the t.v.? Make a sammich? I don't do either . . . I pull up TC and check to see what those crazy Cevola kids are up to. It's the happiest thread on TC and my favorite show. The new work is beautiful as always, Wendy. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Bay Park Buzzy you are right that I have a miniature Alpha here. We are running out of space and places to add shelves. Happy New Years to you and Christina.

Professor G what an honor to have you choose us over TV. As one who loves TV your post was very special. Did you notice that I have poured another War God statue to try the White and blue dots again? I'm still working on the Wish List. If you have changed your mind let me know. We are happy. It is funny but Dan likes his tikis with mean faces a contrast to his own face. I hope you have gotten some rest now.

WaikikianMoeKele you are so kind. Thank you. By the way you are not an invisible or imaginary friend, just a real one.

hang10tiki we were too busy for clay yesterday, horrors. Hopefully today will be better.

I better get working or our show will be canceled! Cheers, Wendy
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2 days with the fan dries out the mold for the severed head and Missionary's Downfall woman.

We poured Severed Head #4, now we are getting somewhere.

I started the next project and it is again for dartharnie. When I customize a Bob mug sometimes it messes up the inside of the mug. This is a great tool for smoothing inside the mug. It just needs to have water or slip on it so that it will glide easily.

Yep next up is Dracula. As dartharnie says it is all in the eyes and eyebrows. I need to add hair to the top of the mug and ears to the sides.

I have no side views of Bela Lugosi so I'm guessing from a couple of 3/4 views.

I've just begun to rough him out. He had to firm up over night. I hope to continue this afternoon.

I'm so glad I could inspire, even if it was a slip of the tongue! I didn't even realize I said shrunken head until I read your message.
Been making a lot of shrunken heads lately, I guess it was just on the brain. Lol.
I'd imagine you'd need to resculpt the jaw line to sew the mouth shut, but it's be a pretty outstanding mug.
4 down, 21 to go! Or, at least I assume it'll be a run of about 25.

Hale Tiki you have so much to share. I can do anything when the clay is still soft. I haven't decided on the run number yet but there are always failures so I have to make more than the run so I can pick only those that turn out perfectly.

I'm looking forward to your Tiki Tuesday photos. I loved the ones you posted on Ohana. I'm freezing when its 50 degrees.

Good Luck on the chuck lamps. Start an "other crafts" page and keep updating it with progress photos and instructions.

Congratulations, I'm watching for the drawings.

Progress Report:

I've started building the top of the head so I can add hair.

Eyeballs are rounded so I use this wooden tool to round back the corners.

Now the eyeballs are rounded.

I've tilted the head forward so that when he looks up with just his eyes there will be a rim of white under the irises.

dartharnie found a side view for me so I'll print it and go check the sculpt for needed changed.

Thanks for the compliments. I'm an idea man for a living (industrial designer/artist), and so I always have lots of ideas I'd love to do, but don't have the time. I'm just happy that you found some ideas of mine that were helpful, and that you liked enough to use! =)

I guess you can turn your imperfect ones into the shrunken heads if you pick only the best for the production run! I have lots of ideas for that one if you'd like to hear them when the time comes.

I think I just figured out what to do for her mug after looking through your thread yesterday. She's not super big into tiki, but really likes it, the drinks, and the people. So there's not a lot for me to draw inspiration from for her, but I think I've got a solid concept.

Here's a picture of us from last night. I told everyone about your pendants, though most follow your post here on TC, or at least have in the past. There's at least one more person who wants a severed head mug, you should be hearing from her soon. Anyway, glad to see things are moving along!

lunavideogames five severed head have now been cast and the molds have been drying since 9 am. It's the best mold we have made so far. No leaks. I'll keep working hard on Dracula.

ZeroTiki only red drinks allowed in that mug.

Hale Tiki that's a super photo. You are a beautiful couple.

Thank you all for cheering me on.

Progress Report:

We finally got the car unloaded. The slip stayed in the garage but all the glazes came into the house for book keeping. I have to mark them in the catalogs so that I know I have them and then assign them a number for the glaze test.

I number the bisque fired test strip on the bottom and I get a paint brush for each new glaze. This makes it faster.

The bottom gets three layers of glaze the center gets two and the top gets one. When I glaze a piece with well help me decide how many layers to use. Some of these are tests for glazes that I bought because they matched the original Severed Head. It will be a long time before I fire these but they are fine to sit and wait out in the kiln shed.

dartharnies Bela Lugosi is a challenge. I'm using so many photos of him at so many different ages. I'm blending them. One will have a normal hairline and one with a point in the middle. I liked the point so that what I used. Here I'm back to changing the mouth to lower the lips and I added nostrils to the nose.

I've done the older Vampire but I use this young man photo for nose shape from the side. Shadows can effect what you do if you don't take them into account. There are many shadows in this photo under the bottom lip and nose. The photo even cuts off part of his jaw line. I just refer to all the photos that I have.

I worked on every part of his face yesterday. The greatest impact came with finishing the eyebrows and lips. He still looks strange because there are no ears. When I add those then his hair and cheekbones will become wider.

This face has many changes yet to come.

I hope to make a lot of progress today so I better sign off and get to work. Cheers, Wendy